Flight Safety Information April 10, 2018 - No. 072 In This Issue Incident: Travel Service B738 at Prague on Apr 9th 2018, park brake set indication in flight Incident: India Regional AT42 at Delhi on Apr 9th 2018, engine shut down in flight Incident: Ryanair B738 at Alicante on Apr 8th 2018, tail scrape on departure MD600N Fatal Accident (PA) Piper PA-24 Comanche Fatal Accident (Arizona) 'Flight Deck LIBIK - Lithium-Ion Battery Incident Kit DRUNK PILOT REMOVED FROM FLIGHT AT SCHIPHOL Tesla's Musk, NTSB Chief Talk After Spat Over Fatal Crash Probe Air Force chief of staff orders review of increasing aviation mishaps Alaska Airlines narrowly edges out Delta to top airline quality study Indonesia's Lion Air buying 50 Boeing 737's in $6.2 bn deal Curti To Unveil New Light Turbine Helicopter ERAU - PhD in Aviation Safety Operating Systems Air Safety Investigation Professional Education Course TU Delft University RESEARCH SURVEY - I RESEARCH SURVEY - II GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 1 GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 2 Incident: Travel Service B738 at Prague on Apr 9th 2018, park brake set indication in flight A Travel Service Boeing 737-800 on behalf of Smartwings, registration OK-TVX performing flight QS-3179 from Tel Aviv (Israel) to Prague (Czech Republic) with 170 passengers, was on approach to Prague when the crew reported they had indication the park brake was set. Emergency services assumed their stand by positions for the arrival. The aircraft landed on Prague's runway 24 without incident and stopped, an inspection revealed all tyres were inflated and brakes temperatures were normal. The aircraft taxied to the apron. The occurrence aircraft returned to service about 6 hours after landing. http://avherald.com/h?article=4b7230b3&opt=256 Back to Top Incident: India Regional AT42 at Delhi on Apr 9th 2018, engine shut down in flight An Air India Regional Avions de Transport Regional ATR-42-300, registration VT-ABA performing flight AI-836 from Pathankot to Delhi (India) with 42 passengers, was descending towards Delhi when the crew declared emergency reporting the right hand engine needed to be shut down. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Delhi's runway 11. http://avherald.com/h?article=4b722efe&opt=256 Back to Top Incident: Ryanair B738 at Alicante on Apr 8th 2018, tail scrape on departure A Ryanair Boeing 737-800, registration EI-GDM performing flight FR-2150 from Alicante,SP (Spain) to Birmingham,EN (UK), departed Alicante's runway 28 when the crew received indication the tail had contacted the runway surface and stopped the climb at 6000 feet. The aircraft returned to Alicante for a safe landing on runway 28 about 30 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registraton EI-EMC reached Birmingham with a delay of 2 hours. The airline reported the aircraft suffered a tail scrape on departure. Post flight maintenance showed the tail skid assembly received minor damage. The passengers were provided with refreshments and later boarded a replacement aircraft. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 16 hours, then returned to service. http://avherald.com/h?article=4b71efcd&opt=256 Back to Top MD600N Fatal Accident (PA) Date: 08-APR-2018 Time: 17:15 LT Type: MD600N Owner/operator: High Line Helicopters Registration: C/n / msn: Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Smethport, PA - United States of America Phase: Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) Nature: Calibration/Inspection Departure airport: Destination airport: Narrative: The helicopter crashed while being engaged in maintenance work of power lines in a remote, wooded area. The pilot survived the crash but was seriously injured. Two other occupants died. State Police said investigators believe that the helicopter was hovering next to a power line, while workers tethered to the aircraft performed maintenance on the lines. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=209008 Back to Top Piper PA-24 Comanche Fatal Accident (Arizona) Date: 09-APR-2018 Time: -21:00 Type: Piper PA-24 Comanche Owner/operator: Private Registration: N9456P C/n / msn: 24-4964 Fatalities: Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Scottsdale Airport (KSDL), Scottsdale, AZ - United States of America Phase: Take off Nature: Unknown Departure airport: Scottsdale (KSDL) Destination airport: Narrative: The aircraft impacted golf course terrain shortly after takeoff from Scottsdale Airport (KSDL), Scottsdale, Arizona. The aircraft was partially consumed by the post-impact fire. All five occupants died in the crash of the plane. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=209043 Back to Top Back to Top DRUNK PILOT REMOVED FROM FLIGHT AT SCHIPHOL Schiphol Amsterdam Airport The police arrested a pilot who was under the influence of alcohol at Schiphol Airport on Monday morning. The pilot was preparing for takeoff when the police removed him from the plane. A breathalyzer revealed that the pilot had 0.9 per mille alcohol in his blood, while the limit for flight personnel is 0.2 per mille. Airline personnel are also not allowed to consume any alcohol 10 hours before a flight. The man's pilot's license was confiscated and he was given a summons. According to the police, the 39-year-old foreign pilot is in custody in the Netherlands and will "probably" be flown back to his home country on Tuesday. Where the pilot is from, and for which airline he flies, was not revealed. https://nltimes.nl/2018/04/10/drunk-pilot-removed-flight-schiphol Back to Top Tesla's Musk, NTSB Chief Talk After Spat Over Fatal Crash Probe Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg Tesla Inc.'s Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and a top U.S. transportation safety investigator spoke over the weekend to patch things up after testy exchanges related to the investigation of a fatal crash. Musk and Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, talked by phone over the weekend, agency spokesman Peter Knudson said. The two discussed the March 23 fatal crash in California involving a Tesla Model X that's under investigation, plus recommendations the agency made after its probe of a 2016 deadly crash involving a Tesla Model S, Knudson said. Both drivers had engaged Tesla's driver-assistance system Autopilot. "Chairman Sumwalt had what he described as a very constructive conversation with Mr. Musk," Knudson said in an email. A Tesla spokeswoman declined to comment on the call. The conversation followed an April 2 tweet by Musk that was dismissive of the company's role in regulating cars and defended the company's release of information regarding the recent crash, which ran afoul of NTSB protocol. In a March 30 blog post, Tesla said that the Model X driver's hands weren't on the steering wheel for six seconds prior to the fatal crash. An NTSB spokesman on April 1 said the agency was "unhappy" with the disclosures by the company. The NTSB is investigating the March 23 crash as well as a collision in January involving a Tesla Model S that was using Autopilot when it rear-ended a fire truck parked on a freeway near Los Angeles. The death of Model S driver Joshua Brown in May 2016 spurred a NTSB report in September in which the agency recommended that automakers do more to guard against driver misuse of automated vehicle control systems. The NTSB said Autopilot's measurement of interaction with the steering wheel was an ineffective method for ensuring that the driver was engaged with the task of operating the vehicle. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-09/tesla-s-musk-ntsb-chief-talk-after-spat-over-fatal-crash- probe Back to Top Air Force chief of staff orders review of increasing aviation mishaps A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon, assigned to the 455th Expeditionary Fighter Wing, takes off from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel, March 23. (Tech. Sgt. Gregory Brook/Air Force) In the wake of a spike in Air Force aviation accidents, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein has ordered a review of the low-level, non-fatal Class C mishaps driving that increase. Air Force data obtained and published by Military Times showed Class C mishaps increased 16 percent between fiscal 2012 - the year before sequestration hit, when Class Cs hit a recent low - and fiscal 2017. Most of those mishaps involved the A-10 Thunderbolt II, several kinds of cargo aircraft and the F-16C Fighting Falcon. Air Force spokesman Maj. Ken Scholz said Monday that Goldfein last week ordered the Air Force Safety Center to conduct the review. The rates of Class A and B mishaps in the Air Force have varied over the last several years but overall are showing decreases. The 25 Class A mishaps - incidents that result in a fatality or permanent disability or at least $2 million in damage - recorded in 2017 were the second-lowest since fiscal 2011, behind the 23 recorded in fiscal 2014. Total mishaps are on the rise in the Air Force, but the service is faring better than the Navy and Marine Crops. And 2017's 41 Class B mishaps - incidents that cause permanent partial disability, the hospitalization of three or more personnel, or between $500,000 and $2 million in damage - were the lowest since 2016. But while Class C mishaps - which cause $50,000 to $500,000 in damage or injuries leading to lost days from work - are comparatively less severe, they can sometimes be a "canary in a coal mine" that show worse problems could develop down the line. Even more concerning, mishaps are increasing at a time when overall flight hours are decreasing. Amid the latest spike in aviation deaths, a newly published Military Times Crash Database shows manned warplane accidents have jumped 39 percent since the 2013 budget cuts. Military Times' analysis of overall Class A through Class C mishaps across all services show a 40 percent increase in accidents since sequestration hit in 2013. Between 2013 and 2017, at least 133 service members were killed. The Navy and Marine Corps have recorded more severe mishap increases than the Air Force. The A-10's Class C mishaps were related to a sudden spike in gun-related mishaps. But the safety center was unsure what was causing the increase in F-16 mishaps, though the aging of the aircraft could be a factor. Military.com reported Monday that Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Seve Wilson said at the Future of War conference in Washington, D.C., that the service was looking into a possible trend in Class Cs. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/04/09/air-force-chief-of-staff-orders-review-of- increasing-aviation-mishaps/ Back to Top Alaska Airlines narrowly edges out Delta to top airline quality study * Alaska Airlines narrowly edged out Delta to top the annual Airline Quality Rating. * The study looks at four factors: percentage of bags mishandled, on-time arrivals, denied boardings and complaints to the Department of Transportation. * Across the industry, the number of denied boardings was down last year from 2016. An Alaska Airlines jet passes the air traffic control tower at Los Angles International Airport (LAX) during take-off in Los Angeles, California. Survey shows airline ratings reach record highs In a year when airlines were forced to defend themselves and their service following several high profile incidents where passengers and flight crews clashed, Alaska Airlines managed to excel, according to the annual Airline Quality Rating. The carrier topped the list for a second-straight year, narrowly edging out Delta Airlines. "Alaska and Delta are so tight together, we had to take it to three decimal places just to see who won," said Dean Headley, a professor at Wichita State University. Headley and Brent Bowen from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are the authors of the Airline Quality Rating, which calculates the performance of U.S.-based airlines using four factors measured by the U.S. Department of Transportation: percentage of bags mishandled, on-time arrivals, denied boardings and complaints to the DOT. Alaska delivers consistently high service, according to the data, Headley said. "Alaska has pushed over the last year or so ... to do everything right. They want to be the best airline, and it shows. The intent is there and the performance is there," said Headley. The top 12 airlines in the study are: Alaska Delta JetBlue Hawaiian Southwest SkyWest Virgin America United American ExpressJet Frontier Spirit For Spirit, dropping one spot to last in the Airline Quality Rating is a reflection of its customers complaining about service. "The thing that drags them down year after year is the fact their complaint rate is about 5.5 for every 1,000 passengers and the industry rate is 1.3," said Headley. Spirit Airlines said it is "committed" to improving reliability, guest service and the in-flight experience, and it noted that its DOT complaints fell by nearly 80 percent since May 2017. "It's also important to note the Airline Quality Report doesn't factor other things that Guests love about Spirit, including the lowest fares in the industry and newest fleet of planes in the U.S.," Spirit said in an email to CNBC. Overall, the study shows the quality of airline service hit a record high last year due to carriers posting record low numbers for mishandled bags and for passengers being involuntarily bumped from flights. In fact, denied boardings were down last year from 2016 as airlines changed their policies after a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines plane. Video of the confrontation prompted a public outcry for airlines to drop, or dramatically reduce the practice of overselling flights. "We hope the industry got the message," said Headley. "It was a horrible message that we saw last spring. Certainly, from that point in time through the end of 2017, the industry as a whole cut its involuntary denied boardings." Also Monday, TripAdvisor released its rankings of the world's best airlines. It ranked Singapore Airlines at the top. Southwest was the only U.S. airline to make the list, which was compiled from reviews by passengers. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/09/alaska-airlines-narrowly-edges-out-delta-to-top-airline-quality-study.html Back to Top Indonesia's Lion Air buying 50 Boeing 737's in $6.2 bn deal Indonesia's Lion Air is buying 50 Boeing 737 MAX 10 airplanes in a deal valued at about $6.2 billion, the firms said Tuesday, as the carrier looks to cash in on a transport boom in the Southeast Asian nation. The new single-aisle plane is the latest incarnation of Boeing's 737 MAX series, which can accommodate between 130 and 230 passengers and fly up to 3,850 nautical miles (7,130 kilometres), the companies said in a statement. The order -- the largest to date for the MAX 10 -- was valued at $6.24 billion, although multi-plane deals tend to end up costing carriers less than list prices. The firms said the newest plane, which is to be delivered from 2020, 'will be the most fuel-efficient and profitable single-aisle jet in the aviation industry'. 'We signed this deal because we're anticipating a growing numbers of passengers in the coming years and so we can increase the amount of our national and international flights,' Lion's president director Edward Sirait told AFP. The low-cost carrier, which started less than 20 years ago with just one plane, stunned the sector in 2013 when it announced two of the world's largest aircraft orders in a monster $46 billion deal. At the time, Lion agreed to buy 234 medium-haul A320 jets worth some $23.8 billion from European aerospace giant Airbus, after a $22.4 billion deal for 230 Boeing planes. Currently, the airline flies to nearly 80 mostly domestic destinations with international routes including Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, China, and Saudi Arabia. Founded in 1999 by brothers Kusnan and Rusdi Kirana, Lion Air is the first private low-cost airline in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago nation that has struggled with a spotty air safety record. Some carriers, including Lion and national carrier Garuda, have on occasion been placed on travel blacklists over their lax safety standards. With some 260 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous nation with more than 17,000 islands and is home to Southeast Asia's biggest economy. The country has a burgeoning middle class which is keen to abandon travel by bus, ferry and train and instead take to the skies for holidays and family visits http://www.gulf-times.com/story/588458/Indonesia-s-Lion-Air-buying-50-Boeing-737-s-in-6-2 Back to Top Curti To Unveil New Light Turbine Helicopter Curti helicopter on ramp The two-seat turbine Zefir was designed to bring a helicopter with a more powerful engine to the light single market. (Photo: Curti) Italy's Curti Aerospace will officially make the commercial launch of its two-seat turbine Zefhir helicopter later this week at the Aero Friedrichshafen show in Germany. Zefhir was formerly known as the "Disrupt" project that was funded by a European Commission initiative to benefit small and medium enterprises (SME) and made its public design debut in 2016. The Zefhir helicopter was designed to serve both the recreational and commercial markets as a trainer. It was developed as a partnership between Curti and Czech engine maker PBS Velká Bítes (PBSVB) and Junkers Profly, which developed the whole-aircraft ballistic parachute recovery system. According to Curti, the aircraft features crashworthy seats. Its custom-designed maximum continuous 241-shp engine is derated to 141 shp. Curti said it developed the helicopter to meet the market need for a better designed light helicopter with a more powerful engine. For more than 40 years, Curti has made subassemblies and components for aerospace and defense companies such as Leonardo. Company products include design and manufacture of equipment for the production of parts and assemblies for helicopters, trainer aircraft, and vehicles for transporting troops and heavy artillery. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-04-09/curti-unveil-new-light-turbine- helicopter Back to Top Back to Top Back to Top Air Safety Investigation Professional Education Course TU Delft University Are you interested in understanding the process behind an air safety investigation? Join TU Delft's professional education course and learn more about the challenges faced during an investigation. With a focus on the legal framework behind air safety investigations world-wide and the generic procedures followed during aviation occurrence, this course is intended for both technical and non-technical professionals. With the Air Safety Investigation course, you will have the opportunity to experience the accident investigation process and throughout a variety of learning activities you will be able to enhance your observation skills, fact-finding skills and analytical skills. If you want to learn more about this amazing professional course or to share with others, please visit: https://online-learning.tudelft.nl/courses/air-safety-investigation/ Back to Top RESEARCH SURVEY - I Dear Participants, I would like to have some help with a questionnaire I created (only 8 questions) aiming to find it if Aviation Industry understands Safety as an organizational or corporate value. I would be grateful if you could disseminate the surveymonkey link SURVEY LINK: Is Safety an Organisational Value? Survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/65MM65D) The Survey ends on April the 22nd and I will create and report with the findings and my opinion at May the 15th.I could send you also the report when is ready. Thank you in advance for your assistance Kind Regards Dimitrios Soukeras,MBA(ER) Lieutenant Colonel HAA(Ret.)-Helicopter Pilot SJSU Faculty Member Office:+302661054690 Mobile:+306947006664 Email: d.soukeras@yahoo.com P.O. BOX 391, 49100 CORFU , GREECE Back to Top RESEARCH SURVEY - II Dear Participants, You are being asked to participate in a research study of your experience on retaining your manual flying skills during flight. This survey study is expected to take approximately 5 minutes of your time. In order to participate, you must be at least 18 years old and currently employed as an airline transport pilot in the United States. Participation in this study is voluntary, and you may choose to opt out of the study at any time. If you choose to opt out, your data will be destroyed. We appreciate your consideration and time to complete our study. Please click on or copy and paste the URL below: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R8NCDGC For more information, please contact: Gajapriya Tamilselvan: gtamilselvan2014@my.fit.edu Or Dr. Scott Winter: winte25e@erau.edu We appreciate your interest and participation! Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 1 International airline pilot and 39-year veteran of flying, Karlene Petitt, has instructed pilots on Boeing aircraft for over 21 years, and holds type ratings on B777, A330, B747-400, B747-200, B767, B757, B737, and B727. She is working on her PhD in Aviation with a focus on safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Petitt is researching the impact of training, aircraft understanding, safety culture, aviation passion, and manual flight tendencies, to better understand the impact on performance. If the pilot is always blamed for errors, the underlying factors may never be identified. The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes and is anonymous. If you fly for a commercial operation, with a two (or more) person crew (corporate, charter, or airline) please visit http://petittaviationresearch.com to learn more and access the link to the survey that can be found at the bottom of the page. If you know any commercial pilot who qualifies, please share this link with them: http://petittaviationresearch.com The more pilots you send this to, the more impact we can make. Thank you! Karlene Petitt MBA. MHS. Doctoral Candidate Aviation ERAU Typed: B777, A330, B747-400, B747-200, B767, B757, B737, B727, http://karlenepetitt.blogspot.com Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 2 Dear Participant: Graduate students at Lewis University have invited you to participate in a research project entitled: Evaluating, Attitudes, and Opinions on the Cyber Threat Vulnerabilities of Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast. The purpose of this survey is to collect survey data from the aviation communities on beliefs of current ADS-B security and its present issues. This study has been approved by Lewis University's Institutional Review Board (IRB). The survey is anonymous. Participation in this research is completely voluntary and you may refuse to participate without consequence. The survey will take approximately ten minutes to complete. If you would like to know the results of this research, contact faculty advisor Dr. Erik Baker at bakerer@lewisu.edu. Thank you for your consideration. Your help is greatly appreciated. Survey link: https://goo.gl/forms/MP1833a6acHXBLGn2 Curt Lewis